To Acting Superintendent James Hiu,

As community leaders in the Gresham-Barlow School District, We wish to convey our support of the ability of workers to organize, to negotiate and bargain collectively for improved working conditions and wages, and to do so without undue interference from their employers.

In a free society, the right of employers to capitalize their efforts and resources must be complemented by the right of workers to capitalize their labor.  This reciprocity is the foundation of a just and fair employment framework.  When workers’ voices are stymied — especially with the use of resources that come from the sweat of their own brow or the pockets of their patrons — the balance of power irrevocably bends away from the common weal and moves even a modest American Dream that much further from the grasp of those working the hardest to achieve it.

It has come to our attention that employees of one of the School District’s contracted service providers may soon be considering the value of unionization and determining whether to formally organize.  This is a decision employees should consider thoroughly and they should come to their own conclusions unswayed by biased information or management interference.

Union “busting” can come in many forms, from overt litigation to more subtle anti-union communications campaigns.  But whatever form it takes, it can be an expensive prospect for the employer to derail — or even to attempt to derail — the organizing process.

Our local district’s resources are made up of the hard-earned tax dollars of our shared constituency, and we believe that the district has a fiduciary responsibility to apply those dollars to seek the best and most effective services for our schools, our students, and the communities we commonly serve.  We hope that the district will not be asking our community to financially support activities designed to hamper workers’ decision making process, enrich a select few specialty anti-union consultants or law firms, and which yield absolutely no benefit to the community or to students.  

We would be disappointed to think that our Gresham-Barlow School District resources might be expended to support these types of union-busting activities.

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Thank you.

Sign on this letter as a supporter of workers' right to organize!